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    Fuego (The Fireman)
    Fuego (The Fireman)
    Fuego (The Fireman)
    Audiobook25 hours

    Fuego (The Fireman)

    Written by Joe Hill

    Narrated by Carla Castañeda

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Nadie sabe dónde y cuándo se originó, pero una plaga se ha extendido por todas partes. Los médicos la llaman Trichophyton draco incendia; los demás, escama de dragón, una espora que marca la piel de los contagiados con manchas negras y doradas antes de hacerles estallar en llamas. Y no hay antídoto.

    La enfermera Harper Grayson está embarazada y ha visto a centenares de pacientes arder... o los veía antes de que el hospital se incendiara. Ahora sólo puede fijarse en las marcas que han empezado a recorrerle la piel. Mientras todo a su alrededor se ve envuelto en el caos por la enfermedad y los grupos que pretenden exterminar a los contagiados, Harper coincide con un misterioso desconocido que deambula entre los escombros con indumentaria de bombero y las marcas de la espora. Sin embargo, no arde. Es como si hubiera aprendido a usar el fuego a modo de escudo para las víctimas... y de arma contra los verdugos
    LanguageEspañol
    PublisherBookaVivo
    Release dateOct 19, 2021
    ISBN9781638115717
    Fuego (The Fireman)
    Author

    Joe Hill

    Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Fireman, NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box; Strange Weather, a collection of novellas; and the acclaimed story collections Full Throttle and 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the Eisner Award–winning writer of a seven-volume comic book series, Locke & Key. Much of his work has been adapted for film and TV, including NOS4A2 (AMC), Locke & Key (Netflix), In the Tall Grass (Netflix), and The Black Phone (Blumhouse).

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    Reviews for Fuego (The Fireman)

    4/5

    720 ratings80 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The Fireman by Joe Hill is a very highly recommended apocalyptic novel about a pandemic, cults, and the end of the world.We are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion and there is no cure. Draco Incendia Trychophyton, nicknamed Dragonscale, is a spore that marks its human host with black and gold-flecked marks, like a fine intricate tattoo that spreads. Once infected those with Dragonscale are also quite likely to burst into flames. People and cities are on fire and the highly contagious plague is rapidly spreading. But panic is spreading faster and people can be even more ruthless than Dragonscale.Harper Grayson is a nurse who loves Mary Poppins. She was at an elementary school, until the school closes after a man wanders onto the playground and bursts into flames. She goes to work at a hospital, wearing full biohazard protective gear, in Concord, NH, until the hospital burns down. At the hospital, she met an enigmatic fireman with a British accent who brought in a child with appendicitis.Harper and Jakob, her husband, had a pact to take their own lives if either of them became infected. When Harper discovers that she is pregnant and then finds the telltale black and gold-flecked filigreed markings of Dragonscale, she decides she wants to live for the sake of her baby. At the hospital she saw infected mothers deliver healthy babies and she is sure she can survive long enough to do this. Her husband Jakob has other plans. He is losing his tenuous grip on his sanity and is sure she has infected him and that they both must die.Harper is rescued by The Fireman, aka John Rookwood. He, along with some masked helpers, takes her to Camp Wyndham. It used to be a summer camp, but now it houses a group of 'scale-marked survivors who have found a way to control the Dragonscale, although not to the extent that The Fireman can use it for his purposes. The camp has a cult-like hive-mind atmosphere, as the members sing to the Bright. But there are other cults developing across the land and Jakob joins with the Marlboro Man as part of the Cremation Squads who seek out those infected with Dragonscale and kill them.All people, left, right, pacifists, militant, any religion, racial group, or sexual orientation, are susceptible to cult-like group-think behavior. All of us. Even as some of us see or acknowledge the behavior, on all sides, that doesn't stop it. Hill has captured this truism with clarity in The Fireman while giving us a rousingly clever, brilliant story that is part science fiction, part horror, and part social commentary. It is a perfectly epic apocalyptic thriller. At 768 pages, I was surprised at how quickly I read The Fireman. I give credit to the exceptional writing, captivating story, wonderful, fully realized characters, and the astute, chilling realism of people's behavior in an inconceivable situation.There are a plethora of pop culture and literary references included in The Fireman. I found myself smiling when spotting them, and saying "Nice one, Joe." It'll be fun for other readers to find them while enjoying The Fireman.Disclosure: My trade paperback copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
    • 4/5
      The Fireman is a post-apocalyptic novel, where the culprit is a spore called Dragonscale (a bit of a Game of Thrones ripoff for the name although the disease is far different). Dragonscale causes those who carry it to light on fire under stressful conditions and propogates itself by transferring the spore to others through the ash. It’s really kind of an ingenious spore. This wipes out much of the population and brings out the worst in people. The infected are in a camp in New Hampshire trying to survive but they also learn how to control the spore, which has its pluses and minuses.I thought this was probably the best Joe Hill novel that I’ve read, which have been a little hit or miss. The writing is strong and the characters are well-developed. The disease brings out the worse of the survivors. By and large, they are trying to kill the infected, without having a full understanding of the disease. The worst character is Harper Willow’s husband. Even before she contracted the spore, he was a total nitwit. The only redeemable characters in the novel are a small circle of those close to Harper, including the Fireman, a British microbiologist who has complete mastery of the spore and can even manifest it out of his body. Both the concept of the execution of the story are good. I did have a couple of issues with the novel. For one thing, the whole stone in the mouth thing at Camp Windham was supremely irritating. Also, it was a bit too dim of a view of humanity for my liking. I would think some of the non-infected would be redeemable. But on balance this was a strong novel that I would recommend.Carl Alves - author of The Invocation
    • 4/5
      A spore is infecting people at an alarming rate, made worse by the fact that it usually results in spontaneous combustion. Harper is a nurse who had made a pact with her husband that if they became infected, they would kill themselves. But Harper is pregnant when she discovers the telltale signs of the spore, and she decides she wants to live until she gives birth. Her husband, who believes killing the infected is the only solution, is enraged, and Harper flees for her life. This isn't just an outbreak horror story. It's also about hope and resilience and religious cults and mob rule and medicine and family. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I liked it.
    • 3/5
      Hill's big, rollicking, end-of-the-world epic almost seems like a homage to his father, Stephen King. With a wink to the audience, Hill lets loose a barrage of thrills and chills that satisfies deeply.
    • 5/5
      I didn’t even read the blurb for this before going in so I knew nothing about it except the title and the cover art. The Fireman turned out to be exactly my kind of book. I love when a story makes me feel. I was angry, devastated, scared, invigorated, deeply touched— I could keep going. The amazing characters and storyline really pulled me in. It’s sort of an apocalyptic tale but not really and sort of dystopian but not exactly. Spores are infecting certain people and changing their makeup. Some spontaneously combust, and others react differently. The reader sees a lot of the best and worst of humanity. Page after page kept me on the edge, and after finishing, all I could do was try to recover from all of my overworked emotions. I couldn’t sleep that night because all of the sad and beautiful parts kept replaying in my head. The details and delivery are so intelligent that it completely feels real.
    • 3/5
      Disappointing. A big book that felt suffocatingly claustrophobic. Interesting premise, without doubt, but ultimately plodding; it needed to be at least a third shorter. Even the 'genetic' use of cultural markers used so successfully elsewhere to anchor the story in the everyday were overused -- buckets instead of deft brush strokes.
    • 5/5
      This was so good. And scary. Going through an actual pandemic at the moment has me scared that things will get as bad as they are in this book. Government could break down, people could start a revolution. You just don't know what scared people will do. Fear drives you to craziness. That being said, the characters were great. Harper was sweet and it was nice seeing her transition from the meek of a jerk to a tough independent women fighting to save her unborn child as well as the friends she made along the way. John, the Fireman was a piece of work. He was a jerk, but the kind you like. The kind who is only a jerk to keep you safe. All of the fear of the spore made everyone nuts--those infected and those not. It was well told, long but not overly so.My only gripe is a reoccurring theme with Hill and his father Mr. King. Why must they always put some sort of animal death/abuse/torture in their novels. It's never necessary and it never to help the plot along. It's there for shock value and it's not an attractive trope. I hate it. I'm not sure how many more of their books I can read if this really is a common thread between them.Note to self: I'll rewrite this later when there is more time to be eloquent. I just wanted to write my initial feelings before I jump into my next read for Dewey's.Note to self V2.0: I think this is as eloquent as I'm gonna get.
    • 5/5
      This is a great book. I would not have guessed I would enjoy it so much. The first Joe Hill book for me. I don't tend to read horror so pretty much avoid authors known to write horror but I had heard that it was really good and it had made several best of lists. This is great story set in contemporary times. There is a lot of references to what is occurring in the world today. This is an apocalyptic story and the author makes it so believable. I liked the beginning where the author references J.K. Rowling, Mary Poppins, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Bradbury. And finally his mother for the mycology that makes the story so believable. The story grabs right away and pulls you along. It's a tense, action story that will make a sit on the edge of your chair movie. A lot of great characters in the story. Very little sexual explicit subject matter yet present in the the story which makes the author even more skilled in my opinion. The writer gives us the details of this virus and how people might react. The setting is the U.S. and it is New England setting. Very readable, I listened to the audio, performed by Kate Mulgrew, who did a great job! I think the author delivered a great book. The story would be one of overcoming the monster. It used mythology (phoenix, etc).
    • 4/5
      Joe Hill is growing on me. I wasn't crazy about "Heart-Shaped Box," but enjoyed "NOS4A2." I will write his books do have "dragging" sections. Fireman is better than those two other books. The last sentence of these chapters got a bit predictable - in the sense they were semi spoilers for what is to come. The few times things happened where there were no warning were enjoyable. Especially when the lead female's evil husband showed up. I nearly dropped the book when that happened.
    • 5/5
      I can't think of a single thing that I didn't like about this book, and I'm not sure what took me so long to read it. I loved the premise, the writing is solid, the characters are fantastic, and the story just flows along wonderfully.
    • 2/5
      I have read and enjoyed Joe Hill's previous work. The best thing I can say about this book is that I finished it. The premise sounded great. A plague has infected the world in the form of dragon scale which causes it's sufferers to burn alive. Nurse Harper Willows finds herself pregnant and infected. She barely escapes from an attempt on her life by the baby's father and she is determined to bring her baby into the post apocalyptic hell. She begins a journey to find a safe place to have her baby and along the way encounters the titular fireman who some how has manged to control his dragon scale. The bulk of the book is filled with characters who deal with the affliction in very different ways. At times the book had a very Walking Dead vibe, kill the inflicted, fear those who aren't. The last 100 pages were probably the best of the whole book. It gave a glimpse into how great this story could have been if the author had tightened the story and removed about half the book. Like his father Joe loves to throw in random pop culture references like Harry potter (a lot), Game of Thrones, and Hunger Games. He went too far when he killed J.K. Rowling who of course nobly spent the last months of her life trying to save as many dragon scale victims as possible. I don't know what Joe Hill's fascination is with Martha Quinn, a person I have not given a thought to since the 80's. The thought that the book would get better is what drove me to the end. I think there was a really good story here but it got lost in a lack of editing. The characters were not developed and I didn't care about any of them and couldn't describe them because they were all indistinct. The one character I cared about, the orange cat, was killed off, thanks Joe. That pretty much sums it up for me, I cared more about a cat in this book than any of the characters. It will be a long time before I pick up another Joe hill book. I am sincerely hoping your daddy doesn't let me down with The Outsider.
    • 4/5
      I read this book during the pandemic, so the beginning where societal breakdown and overtaxed medical personnel are described nearly had me in tears. It felt so on point with the daily headlines and newscasts we are all so linked to. Joe had me hooked like a trout on a line as he led me through his post apocalypse. This story is truly a love story to his parents. You can definitely feel their literary influences in his storytelling. His subtle references to character names in The Stand felt like finding comic book Easter eggs while watching a Marvel movie. I groaned out loud. I cheered. I was truly surprised. Although I wished for a different ending, I believe Joe remained true in his vision of his characters. I applaud him and look forward to another great story by him.
    • 5/5
      I tentatively stepped into this story and was soon swallowed up by it. The characters were achingly real and the book so fast paced that I had to slow down when I reached the half-way mark so that I could savor it - I did not want it to end! Joe Hill is an amazing author who's been gifted with a talent that few possess. I always share my books with the few reader friends I have but this one will be hoarded for my personal library to be reread some day.
    • 5/5
      I received this from Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

      There aren't enough stars in the Goodreads rating system for this one! What a great book!

      Joe Hill channels his father's literary genes with this one, and it reads almost like an homage to classic Stephen King, with hidden "Easter eggs" hidden throughout from many of his father's books, as well as many of his own. Love it!

      The story itself is very compelling, and in typical Joe Hill fashion, the many twists and turns in the plot are quite shocking. The characters are believable and likeable, and the situations in which they find themselves never seem to let up, all the way to the ending. I'm not going to discuss anything about the plot, you can read the synopsis. But keep this in mind: the synopsis only covers a miniscule amount of the intensity of this book. Also keep in mind, this book will hit you over and over and over heart-wrenchingly deep in the feels.

      If you are already a Joe Hill or Stephen King fan, you know you need to read this book. If you haven't read any of Joe Hill's books, this would be an **excellent** place to start!
    • 2/5
      Not a bad book, but the endless callbacks to The Stand got exasperating, the ending was way too drawn out and I call BS on Hill's claim that his agent didn't know his real last name for years.
    • 4/5
      Joe Hill has created another amazing and creepy world, with realistic characters in a dire situation. Harper thinks the dragon scale that adorns her skin is a death sentence. But, it opens her eyes and mind to a new reality. She is a strong, determined character who has lived her whole life in her husband's world, but the infection changed that. I don't want to give the story away, so I won't say much. I loved the characters and the story. It's a long book, but worth every page. It's not nearly as creepy as NOS4A2, but scary in its own way. I will say that one of the characters mentioned Christmasland and I shivered (so that book still affects me...). Anyway, if you like Joe Hill, read this, you won't be disappointed.
    • 4/5
      This author was new to me. I had never heard of him before. Initially I was attracted to the book because of its colour and then the blurb of the book really drew me in. I was fascinated by the story of a deadly disease called dragonscale and how it affected people. After reading the book I researched the author and discovered that Joe Hill is Stephen King's son. I was glad that I found this out afterwards rather than before I read it otherwise I may have not even picked it up. Why? Because I'm not a Stephen King fan. However, I never regretted reading it - far from it. It is classed as a horror book but I wouldn't class it that way. I have read some horrific books even though they weren't horror books. This book had some horrific scenes in it but not enough for me to class it as horror. This is part of why I'm not a fan of Stephen King because his horror books are really horrific.

      The book, whilst long, had short chapters which flowed easily from to the other even across books (it was divided up into books). It was very easy to read and the style of writing made you feel as though you were right there with the characters. The characters are many and varied. From the beginning of the book we are introduced to Harper Grayson who is a nurse at a local hospital. She is married to Jakob who turns out to be a psychopath driven to kill her and their unborn child. This desire in Jakob was driven by his fear that Harper had infected him and their child with dragonscale because she contracted the disease herself.

      We are then introduced to many other characters in quick succession but this didn't leave the reader feeling as though they were drowning in a massive array of characters. This aided the book's smooth, consistent, and quick flow.

      In order to really appreciate this book you need to read it for yourself. I loved it and would recommend it to any one who likes this sort of book. I think after some time has elapsed I would probably try reading this book again which is not something I do often with books unless it's really good.
    • 5/5
      Hands down my favorite Joe Hill book to date! Once I got into this I couldn't put it down and I stayed up past midnight last night to finish reading it. The Fireman was eerily reminiscent of "Fahrenheit 451" and his father, Stephen King's "The Stand" (which he acknowledges in the introduction, as well as giving JK Rowling some love. How can you not love this man??). Instead of a plague taking over the world, a spore is. Called dragonscale, it infects people causing their bodies to become "tattooed or written on with the scale" and eventually they start smoking, combust and die. When Nurse Harper contracts it her husband leaves in disgust, hoping he doesn't get it from her. Alone and pregnant she finds herself being helped as a man known as The Fireman because he has learned to control his dragonscale and weaponize it to defend himself. As the world slips further into decline and despair, Harper and the fireman hide in a little colony of the infected, trying to hide from cremation crews and other uninfected people who are soo scared of contracting dragonscale that they kill anyone they see with it. Together they learn to control and manage their dragonscale, even seeing it as a gift. Wonderfully written, the characters were tragically beautiful and sarcastic and at the end of the world I would want them by my side. LOVED this book!
    • 4/5
      A bit bloated but very effective overall. A post apocalyptic story, cool infectious disease story, a love story, a meditation on religion and shared emotion -- when does communal spirit become cultism?
    • 4/5
      When I first read a Joe Hill book I had no idea that he was Stephen King's son so I was able to judge his work without being influenced by that knowledge. My judgement was that this guy is pretty good and I'd love to read more of his books. Since then I have read three more of his books and have come to realize that his work is strongly influenced by his father, as it should be, but he still writes with a clear voice that is distinctly his own. Even before starting to read The Fireman, I knew what it would be like. I'd heard that it was about an epidemic where people who have the disease suffer spontaneous combustion. With that in mind I figured it would be something like The Stand only with lots of fire. I was wrong. At the risk of revealing spoilers I won't say anything other than to tell you that this disease does more than just kill its victims. This, I believe, makes Hill's latest novel unique. Read it. You'll enjoy it.
    • 4/5
      Dragonscale is infecting people. You catch it and you will eventually combust in flames. But the fireman seems to know something and Nurse Harper is coming along.A great page turner, evocative of Stephen King novels. No surprise. The audio narration by Kate Mulgrew was very good.
    • 4/5
      “There’s something horribly unfair about dying in the middle of a good story, before you have a chance to see how it all comes out. Of course, I suppose everyone ALWAYS dies in the middle of a good story, in a sense. Your own story. Or the story of your grandchildren. Death is a raw deal for narrative junkies.”In my opinion, post-apocalyptic fiction could easily be considered a sub-genre of horror so it only makes sense for Joe Hill to be tackling it. In Hill’s version of the apocalypse, the world has drastically changed after a spore begins spreading that is quite literally burning everything (and everyone) to the ground. It’s known as Draco Incendia Trychophyton, or more commonly known as Dragonscale. The infected show signs on their skin in black and gold dragon scales which could be considered beautiful were it not for the fact it causes people, and those in close proximity, to spontaneously combust. Harper Grayson is a school nurse who begins volunteering at the local hospital at least until it too burns down. She returns home to her husband, Jakob, only to discover shortly after that she’s pregnant. Harper is intent on keeping the baby, convinced she’d be able to give birth to a healthy child, but Jakob disagrees and becomes exceedingly violent. Harper is forced to find a new safe place to see this pregnancy through which ends in a chance meeting with The Fireman, a man who straddles the line between hero and villain.“Do you spend a lot of nights keeping the fire department in hysterics with creative acts of arson?”“Everyone needs a hobby,” he said.This was an immense and time-consuming book, however, if you’ve read a Joe Hill book before you know that the man can’t seem to write a bad book. While this one was not nearly my favorite (that award goes to Heart Shaped Box, always) it’s always fascinating to see a well-loved author tackle a new genre and watch the world he created unfold. He also once again proves his talents for writing fantastic female characters. Merrin Williams in Horns, Victoria McQueen in NOS4A2, and now Harper Grayson in The Fireman. Where he really excelled though was with his created contagion, Dragonscale, and how it was built up and developed far more than most end of world diseases I’ve read about. Typically, stories such as these have a failure of sufficiently developing what led to the downfall of civilization and instead focuses on the world after instead. I could easily compare the time spent explaining and detailing Dragonscale (including the origins and scientific explanations) to how flawlessly Mira Grant handled Kellis Amberlee in her Newsflesh trilogy.‘Her Dragonscale pulsed with a disagreeable warmth, in a way that made her think of someone breathing on coals.’Camp Wyndham ends up being Harper’s “safe” place for her to continue her pregnancy but once she arrives there the pacing of the book seemed to suffer. Camp drama, strange religious aspects that are pretty standard for any end of world story, and various other plot lines were ongoing but I felt that much of it was often superfluous and ultimately never amounted to much when you consider how much time was spent exploring said plots. I applaud his effort for writing such a tome, but alas, I feel it could have been trimmed down just a bit. There was also the requisite yet under-developed bad guy that I’ve already mentioned: Jakob. To summarize, Jakob was a big bag of dicks.“I’ve never once met a woman who had any true intellectual rigor. There’s a reason things like Facebook and airplanes and all the other great inventions of our time were made by men.”And that’s just one example. Basically, he went a little psycho after he discovered Harper had contracted Dragonscale. They had touched one another in recent days so he became a hypochondriac, convinced that she had also infected him and sentenced him to his death. I felt that there wasn’t enough basis for him as a villain and wanted a bit more backstory to find out how his perverse mind worked, even though I doubt it would have been an enjoyable experience.Hill created a most enticing world full of love, bravery, and adventure in The Fireman. He also set the tone for possible future installments. I’ll admit, I did groan a bit because that’s just what this world needs more of: series. But this is Joe Hill, and I can’t not be curious.
    • 5/5
      The book that goes on and on and on. Great story. World building is great with an incurable disease. Likeable and hateful characters move the story along,
    • 4/5
      Joe Hill is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. As you all know, I am LOVING his Locke & Key graphic novel series, and I also really enjoyed his Heart-Shaped Box. The Fireman was no different. A few months ago, my husband Blake and I went on a bit of a book buying spree, and ever since those books have been eyeing me from my shelves. The Fireman is one of these books, and so after I learned that Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek narrated the audio version, I decided go for it so I could check it off my TBR.The Fireman is a near-future apocalypse story. A deadly disease called dragonscale is rapidly spreading around the world, causing people to literally spontaneously combust, which has started chain reactions that have literally brought entire buildings to the ground (R.I.P. Space Needle). No one knows how the disease is spread, there are no known long-term survivors, and there is no cure. As the infection continues to spread and civilization breaks down into chaos, a small group of people are attempting to beat the odds and do the impossible- survive.This book was full of suspense, and while I did predict the ending, everything before kept me guessing. There were a few parts where I actually had to stop what I was doing and sit down to get me through a particularly intense scene! This book goes through a variety of changes in scenery and in tone, which I absolutely loved. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but let’s just say that Joe Hill did a great job of examining what could happen in an apocalypse-type event such as this and what fear can do to a person, but also the impact that a supportive community can have. This is one of those books that I keep reflecting back on weeks after reading it. I especially loved the larger-than-life “superhero”-esque character of the Fireman. I thought Joe Hill did a great job of connecting me to the characters; I found them to be very relatable and often found myself wondering, “what would I do in that situation?” I have been craving the tension and elaborate survival plans of near-future apocalypse novels lately, and this definitely filled that description. If you are looking for a great, suspenseful novel, I highly recommend The Fireman! (And also everything else by Joe Hill, because he is awesome!)My rating: 4/5 stars.
    • 5/5
      Sometime in the near future/recent past, a deadly spore has begun spreading across the globe. When it embeds itself in a human, it creates distinctive tattoo-like skin markings and eventually causes its host to spontaneously combust. Nurse Harper Willowes, newly pregnant and newly infected with the Dragonscale spore, flees the "cremation crews" that roam the countryside and stumbles into a hidden community of infected people who have somehow learned to harness the infection without bursting into flames.The seeming utopia, in the tradition of literary utopias everywhere, turns out to be not quite what it seems, and Harper isn't sure who she can trust after all. The titular Fireman is the wiseacre fellow who brings Harper to the community, and who seems to have learned not only how to avoid going up in smoke but actually to control and direct the incendiary infection, although he's reluctant to share that particular secret with the group.I really enjoyed this one. It's weird and suspenseful and funny, and it didn't overly strain my suspension of disbelief. The only thing that would have made it better for me would have been a little more attention to the "big picture" of how the Dragonscale spore was affecting the world outside of the little corner of New England where the book is set. Highly recommended for fellow fans of dystopian fiction.
    • 5/5
      The Fireman by Joe Hill is a novel about a plague, Draco Incendia Trychophyton, also known as Dragonscale.I love how Hill brings his characters to life, and the world he creates is chilling. With incredible writing, I recommend this book to anyone who loves dystopian tales.
    • 4/5
      3.5 starsThere is a new plague – a spore – that is spreading throughout the population. It causes people to suddenly burst into flames. When a nurse, Harper, comes down with it, her husband leaves her and she is driven from her home as there are people out there who are hunting down and killing those with “Dragonscale”. They are marked with an elaborate tattoo when infected, so it can be hard to hide. Harper ends up in the woods with a group of other people hiding out with Dragonscale, including a man they call “The Fireman”. Things take a turn for the worse at this camp when their leader is seriously injured. This was good. It was long, but it was good. I liked that Allie, the teenager, was portrayed realistically – at least I thought so. Good and bad, temperamental, like a teenager. We also had some crazy characters and some power-hungry ones. I do wonder if there will be a sequel.
    • 3/5
      A highly infectious spore called Dragonscale, which causes those who are infected to spontaneously combust without warning, has spawned a pandemic and brought about a collapse of society, as the healthy are tracking down and massacring the sick. When Nurse Harper Willowes becomes infected, shortly after learning she is also pregnant, her husband tries to kill her; she barely escapes with the help of a mysterious man, the Fireman, who hides her with other infected at a summer camp, where she learns that Dragonscale can be controlled.I felt so torn over this book. The concept is unique for an apocalyptic novel. The characters are, for the most part, relatable and well-developed. The overall societal collapse and the development of a cultlike atmosphere at the campground are both chilling. The climactic scene at the campground is extremely exciting (shades of "The Lottery"). But...At over 700 pages, this book is way, way too long. In fact, this book may have finally put me off long novels for good. Quite a lot of the beginning could have been cut, and the road trip at the end seemed unnecessarily drawn out and anticlimactic. The transformation of Harper's husband from doting to full-on maniac strained believability quite a bit, as did the unrealistic portrayal of the final stages of Harper's pregnancy. The romance seemed clumsy and forced. And while I enjoyed the allusions to the works of Stephen King (Hill's dad) in N0S4A2, I found the frequent allusions to The Stand here to be heavy-handed and out of place, especially the echoing of character names.I think this could have been a five-star book, if it had been more focused and true to its center. Unfortunately, as it stands, it is a disappointment.
    • 5/5
      I love any and all things Joe Hill, and this one did not disappoint. Very original premise, and as I am a sucker for apocalypse fiction, I couldn't put this down. Character development really immersed me into this.
    • 3/5
      I was able to snag an early copy of this book for which I was very excited to pick up and read. Sitting at an impressive 768 pages this is not a book but a tome. While I own several of Mr. Hill's books, I have only read the Heart Shaped Box. It was this book that hooked me and left me wanting to read more but Mr. Hill. He is making his own path in the writing world without the name of his father, which I applaud. The beginning of this book started out great. I was memorized by the Dragonscale and its effect on people. I could just picture the image that Harper saw from her school window as she watched the man ignite and burn up into a pile of ash. Then there is the "Fireman". He brings an intriguing element to the story. I would call him a wild card. Although I liked this tome and the concept, I found that the beginning was great and the ending but the middle was just a lot of talking and not as much action. So at times reading this tome you experience the long length of the 768 pages. Yet, I am inspired to go back and read the other books I own by Mr. Hill.